writing style

**verismo** · 09-17-2003, 12:36 PM

Yeah, we have talked about that type of thing a lot here. But good catch on your own there.

MZD calls this "Cinematic Literature" you will have all kinds of things like this happen. Just a flip through the book shows you that.

In other words, like you found, Mark will speed up, slow down, hide, spotlight, twist, and turn. Have fun with all that, and just go with the flow.

So, morningchoir, this brings up an interesting topic...why is House in blue?

Sorry everybody. I couldn't resist. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

**Jillian** · 09-17-2003, 12:43 PM

The most fascinating aspect of the book layout for me was the hoops that MDZ made us, the readers, jump through. Three examples:
1. Backwards writing, for which I had to hold up a compact mirror--a lot like the story itself, you're getting "reflections" on the NR, not the NR itself.
2. Page flipping, that at the most fast-paced parts there's only a couple of words per page, so the reader literally does flip pages fast, just like you always want to in the good parts of a book but usually can't.
3. Decoding PHL's 5/8/87 letter, which I did by writing the first letter of each word while looking only at the book--leaving me with a creepy note, scribbled like a mad woman's writing--but IT WAS IN MY HANDWRITING. Very scary to look down and see that.

Ah, MDZ, you're a freakin' genius!

**Ra-ra** · 09-17-2003, 03:18 PM

The most memorable part of the book for me is the line which stands solitary in the middle of the page stating "standing centre with a shotgun in his hand".

Those few pages alone sold the book to me. I love Danielewski's use of, as Verismo says "cinematic literature". I don't think it's gimmicky at all but integral to the way in which the book generates fear in the reader; the way the reader is made to become an active participant, well, more than is usually the case. And therefore emphasises the box-like narrative of House of leaves.

What I mean is, perhaps the reader is the forth narrator... I know there was a discussion about this going on somewhere else. I don't just mean our own little scribblings that are added to our own copies of the book but more importantly our own HoL related stories that we relate to each other.
Sorry if this has been said before, I couldn't remember, I'm sure it probably has.

It's a bit late here, sorry I can't be more coherent.

[ September 17, 2003: Message edited by: Ra-ra ]

**morningchoir** · 09-17-2003, 04:42 PM

quote:
So, morningchoir, this brings up an interesting topic...why is House in blue?

aghhhh! no, verismo, please don't! [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] is there a link for that somewhere? i don't know if i want to discuss that in this one. i think, though, the the house is blue because it is linked with so many bad experiences...hence, it brings sadness.
my new favorite cinematic literature is on page 289. if you turn it upside down does that resemble a house to anyone?

**morningchoir** · 09-17-2003, 04:46 PM

hey everyone, since i am new to this site, if i bring up something that is in a link somewhere else just let me know. i won't mind just going there instead. [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

**morningchoir** · 09-17-2003, 11:57 PM

has anyone else thought about how, in the chapter where navidson and reston find max and jed, the writing style is like a slow, second by second account. but when the next chapter returns to tom it is long drawn out paragraphs, like it is reflecting the wait that tom must endure? just a thought. [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

**Jillian** · 09-18-2003, 07:10 PM

On the topic of reader as participant, I would also add that each reader (as evidenced by this board) sees the book uniquely from his/her perspective, making a unique book each time--for example, the postings where the reader with extensive WWII knowledge caught all the French Foreign Legion references, and the norwegian who told us about all the obscure Norse references (including a type of beer). To these folks, these references jumped out at them, while others of us didn't even see them. I have an interest--note, interest, not symptoms!--in schizophrenia and for me the book was primarily about that...until I got here and realized that each of us, really, read a completely different story.

Which actually reminds me of Mostly Harmless by Douglass Adams in which the Guide offices distribute one single copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to an infinite number of universes.

[ September 18, 2003: Message edited by: Jillian ]

**Jillian** · 09-18-2003, 07:14 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ra-ra:
The most memorable part of the book for me is the line which stands solitary in the middle of the page stating "standing centre with a shotgun in his hand".

[ September 17, 2003: Message edited by: Ra-ra ]

Which reminds me...that's the only time in HOL that "center" is spelled "centre", isn't it? And with no [sic]? Oh, dear, I suppose that's another thread...